TRO filed vs Legislature’s budget cut

Rep. Stanley T. Torres asked the court yesterday to prevent Gov. Benigno R. Fitial from cutting the Legislature’s budget beyond 7.1 percent.

Torres, a member of the House minority bloc, also asked the Superior Court to declare that the governor’s budget reductions were in violation of the law, and to return the “excess” amount to the lawmakers.

In addition, the lawmaker urged the court to declare null and void the February 2006 state of emergency declaration for the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. He also called on the court to bar the administration from hiring new government employees.

Fitial and the CNMI Executive Branch were named as respondents in the petition, which had yet to be acted upon by the court.

Press secretary Charles P. Reyes Jr. said the opposition lawmaker’s action was unfortunate.

“We believe we’re doing the right thing, from a policy or legal point of view. We are not exposing the government to any liabilities. Unfortunately, some people are determined to remain hostile despite our intentions. They want to pursue the adversarial approach, rather than a cooperative approach,” Reyes said.

He also expressed concern that the lawsuit could lead to waste of taxpayer’s resources.

In a petition for permanent injunction and declaratory relief, Torres maintained that Fitial overstepped his reprogramming authority when the governor cut the Legislature’s 2nd quarter allotment by 28.16 percent.

He noted that the administration’s revised revenue estimate for fiscal year 2006 reflected only a reduction of $15.221 million or 7.1 percent.

But the administration maintained that, while the law restricted the governor from reprogramming legislative funds, the CUC state of emergency declaration authorized Fitial to take money from any government agency to pay for power generation fuel.

Torres said that the state of emergency itself was unlawful as the CUC crisis did not constitute a disaster emergency or calamity as described by law. He added that the declaration was done improperly because it was issued as an executive order.

In a petition for temporary restraining order, Torres said the court should act immediately to stop Fitial from reducing the Legislature’s allotment for the 3rd quarter of FY2006. The 3rd quarter begins Saturday, April 1, 2006.

“This will most likely cause imminent layoffs of some support staff, reduction in hours for certain legislative staff, cutbacks in supporting services and supplies for the Legislature, which most likely will cause the diminishing activities of the legislative branch of government,” he said.

Torres argued that, rather than cutting the Legislature’s budget, the Executive Branch should address Mobil Oil Marianas’ “monopoly” in the Commonwealth, and stop hiring new employees and contracting expensive consulting services.

Each member of the Legislature is entitled to an office budget of $155,000 a year. The governor’s budget reductions reportedly cut each lawmaker’s 2nd quarter allotment by $10,914 or 28.16 percent.